As Sangamitra laid all alone on the hospital bed, counting her days down that she could probably live, memorable thoughts of Sri Lanka pondered through her mind. She would never forget those times till the day she closes her eyes forever.
“Mitra,Mitra!” where are you? “Our citizenship has been approved by the government!” It was the period 1948 when the Ceylon citizenship act was in place. Sangamitra was a young girl back then. “mitra, please stir the pot!” Shouted her mother, they were busy preparing a feast for the family to celebrate the happy news. It sure must be something to be glad about as only five thousand Indian Tamils qualified for this citizenship.
“I missed you so much kavita!” “How were your holidays?”
Mitra questioned her Sinhalese bestfriend, kavita devi.
“I missed you too!” “Not very fun as you was not beside me.”
Replied kavita wholeheartedly. Mitra and Kavita had been good friends since the age of 5, since then they had been classmates. “This bond between us should never be broken,” “Best friends forever!”
They screamed at the top of their lungs, while they skipped together hand in hand. Two wonderful years passed on. Year 1950 came.
“Mother, mother!” “Why can’t I go to school?” “Why can’t I talk to kavita?” Mira questioned her mother sternly. “Mira, you are a big girl now, “Try to understand, Kavita is a sinhalese, the government just came up with the resettlement policy.” “This policy clearly states that Sinhalese peasants were transferred from the densely populated south western and central areas to Tamil areas.” “The only land that belongs to us is now going to be occupied by the Singalese. “Be a proud Indian girl and have some pride please.” “Keep away from Kavita.” Her mother sighed and walked away.
Five years later, Mira bumped into Kavita in the city. “Hi Kavita, How have you been?” “It’s been long time since we kept in touch.” “Come on let’s have a coffee and catch up with things”. They together went to the café and chat. They found out that they were going to attend the same interview. Couple of weeks later Kavita called Mira and told her that she got the job. Mira congratulated Kavita and was upset that she didn’t get through even though she had higher grades than Kavita. Mira did not get the job because she was not able to speak Sinhalese.
20 years passed, Mira was married with two lovely kids. Her two kids worked very hard in school in order to get into university to support their family but they could not fit into the new university admission criteria. They were frustrated. Most of their Sinhalese friends were able to get through the university though they had lower grades then them.
In 1976 a new political party called the Tamil United Liberation front emerged. They asked for a separate independent state in the north and east of Sri Lanka. Known more popularly as the Tamil Tigers, the LTTE is considered a terrorist organization. Children see the tigers as saviors. The only way to get out of the house was to join the Tigers. Mira’s kids had no choice but to join the Tamil tigers as soldiers. They were given military training. During one of the riots, they died.
